Psyched
by Setrus
Summary: What went through Victor Zsasz's head as he confronted batman? How could he, with all the advantages, so easily be defeated by the caped crusader?


Victor Zsasz was afraid.

The wardens office was large and luxurious, not that Victor cared, nor could he really see most of it as he kept his eyes focused on the doorway, waiting for _him_ to arrive.

The bitch Penelope Young struggled against him, trying to break free from the steely grip of his hand gripping her hair while at the same time trying to avoid his gore-encrusted knife. Even from this angle he could see her mascara running with tears, how pale she was, more so than any of the times he had leered at her, fantasising about how it would be to slit her throat.

He felt a shiver of excitement run through his spine at the thought, it would require so little...a quick slice and her life would be gone, another to mark on his skin, another zombie liberated from her fleshy prison. So close...he licked his lips, struggling not to let nature take its course.

No...not yet...not with _him_ here.

"Let me go!" Penelope cried, more a sob than a sentence even as her shoes uselessly stomped at his bare feet, as if she could actually hurt a man like him. He _liked_ that...with a hiss he pulled harder, drawing a sob out of her.

"Come any closer, and I'll paint her room crimson with her blood!" His voice trembled, of course it always was, shaking with the greatness of his mind. But this was different, just a little...

He would never admit it to anyone, never, but batman frightened him. A creature Victor could stab, whose throat he could press his blade against...who didn't even flinch! It was unsettling, wrong, it didn't fit, it wasn't a zombie, a zombie wasn't fearless like that. In a way the two of them were the same...

Except that Victor actually felt fear right now.

"Ah! No! Ah! Ahhh!" The good doctor screamed, fear paralysing her, as it always did...Victor once more struggled not to slit her throat right there and then, the only thing stopping him being that worm of worry, of _fear_ of what would happen once he did...

"Zsasz, what are you talking about?" Jokers voice was mad as always, crazy fool... "Just kill her, she's useless to me now." The idiot actually thought Zsasz cared about his plans...it was almost amusing...though Victor could not bring himself to laugh.

"But if I do that the bat will get me!" He protested, sensing the presence of the dark creature, yet seeing nothing. _Where is he!?_

"Bah! You're not scared of a little bat, are you-"

"Silence!" Victor commanded, voice a little too strained for his own liking. Was that a sound? Had he heard the bat? Or...no...that creature never made a sound until it was too late. Was he behind Victor right now? Coming right up behind him...face grim as he prepared to take him down as if it was nothing...?

Victor suppressed the urge to look behind himself. No, there was only one way in, none could get past without him seeing it, he would not panic!

There! Was that a shadow moving!? No...no...Victor felt cold sweat run down his spine, where _was_ the creature!?

Keeping behind Penelope he shot two quick glances around, trying to find something..._anything_ else to use as an additional shield. There was nothing that he trusted or which was close enough though and – was that movement!?

Snapping his head back around he focused on the darkness of the entryway, trying to make out any silhouette of the bat. One pointed ear sticking out and...Victor almost wished it would happen so he could get the satisfaction of a kill before that unbeatable monster took him.

There was nothing though, _nothing_!

"Where _are_ you?!" He hissed, so low he himself barely heard it. He needed to see the bat, to at least get a glimpse of him, at least _then_ he would get the satisfaction of a kill, and more, the satisfaction of knowing that the bat _failed_! That was more important than killing the bat, the humiliation, the knowledge that _he_, Victor, had _outwitted_ him!

Yet the bat didn't show himself!

"Le-let me go!" The doctor cried, her collected self blown away now that she was _truly_ confronted by the 'disease' she was supposed to 'cure'. "Please..." The sob was so pathetic, so..._exciting_...Victor felt his hand shake, the knife willing itself closer to the ripe throat, to spill the blood it needed.

He should do it, cut her throat, make the bat cry out, come at him. Maybe Victor would be lucky, stab that creature of the night as he uselessly tried to save another victim...Victor liked that idea, a chance to get even, to fill the spot on his skin that he had saved for the bat.

But what if...Victor felt the dread he'd thought he'd conquered return, preventing him to take action in a way no straight jacket could ever have done. Damn him! Damn the bat! He made everything wrong! The world turned upside down by his very presence!

He should pay, yes he should...if he would only show himself!

"Come now little bat, come out come out wherever you are!" He taunted, managing a grin, he _could_ unsettle the bat, _could_ reach into his mind and _squeeze_...he _could_! Even if that creature never showed it... "Stop hiding in fear or I'll cut her throat! Coward!" He wrenched Penelope's hair, drawing a scream out of her.

Yet the bat did not act!

Nothing but darkness was in the doorway. No bat. No caped crusader. No knight of the night. Nothing...was he even there anymore? Had he tried to find another way? There were no ventilation shafts leading directly into the room...there was no hidden doors...nothing. But maybe the bat didn't know this? Maybe Victor was simply shouting at nothing? Maybe he had..._won_?

He felt his grin turn genuine. He had won! He had scared away the bat! He had made him flee! He, Victor, had gotten the better of _batman_!

Still grinning he pushed Penelope lower while craning his neck, just to make sure he had really-

There was a whipping sound.

Something of black and silver coming at him.

Pain, not blissful burning pain, but a dull throbbing one in his temple.

A thud.

His back on the floor.

Eyes fluttered as unconsciousness begun to grip him.

But, but...he had wo-

Darkness.


End file.
